#6 - Gilead Sciences
333 Lakeside Dr.
Foster City, CA 94404
Tel: (800) 445-3235
Fax: (650) 578-9264
www.gilead.com
| Headcount | 2,515 | |
| Year Established | 1987 | |
| Biopharma Revenues | $2,588 | +43% |
| Total Revenues | $3,026 | +49% |
| Royalty Revenues | $438 | +100% |
| Net Loss | -$1,190 | n/a |
| R&D Budget | $384 | +38% |
| Top Selling Drugs |
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| Drug | Indication | Sales | (+/-%) |
| truvada | HIV | $1,194 | +111% |
| viread | HIV | $689 | -12% |
| hepsera | hepatitis B | $231 | +24% |
| ambisome | fungal infection | $223 | +1% |
| atripla | HIV | $206 | n/a |
Account for 98% of total biopharma sales, up from 97% in 2005.
PROFILE
Through no fault of its own, Gilead slipped a notch in this year's rankings, but it might be next year's highest climber. The company's HIV franchise is producing gangbuster results, contributing to a 43% increase in drug sales in 2006 and a 50% increase for 1Q2007. Total revenues, which also include royalties and contract services, rose almost $1 billion in 2006.
In July 2006, Gilead and Bristol-Myers Squibb received FDA approval for Atripla, an HIV combo pill containing two of Gilead's drugs and one from BMS. Gilead reported $206 million in Atripla sales in the remainder of the year, then posted $190.2 million in 1Q2007. (Note: Gilead records all sales of Atripla, then pays BMS its portion as a cost-of-goods expense.)
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Acquisitions
Target: Myogen Corp. Price: $2.5 billion Announced: October 2006 Target: Corus Pharma Price: $365 million Announced: July 2006 |
Gilead is trying to go beyond HIV with its recent acquisitions of Corus Pharma (closed August 2006) and Myogen (closed November 2006). The latter provided Gilead with ambrisentan, a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Ambrisentan was submitted to the FDA in December 2006, received priority status two months later, and was approved in June 2007 with the trade name of Letairis. PAH only strikes 1,000 people annually, but Letairis may become the gold standard of treatment, with some analysts projecting $500 million in annual sales. GlaxoSmithKline has non-U.S. rights to the drug, and submitted an MAA for it in March 2007.
Myogen was also conducting Phase III trials of darusentan, a treatment for resistant hypertension. That drug could have a much higher sales peak, but trials may be very difficult to conduct, due to certain FDA requests. Some were surprised when Gilead spent $2.5 billion on Myogen, but the investment may provide some rapid returns and offer the company diversification from its HIV focus.
Gilead began this process when it invested $25 million in Corus Pharma in April 2006, then exercised its option to buy out the rest of the shares for $365 million in August. Gilead has since completed a pair of Phase III studies of Corus' lead product, aztreonam lysine for inhalation for the treatment of people with cystic fibrosis who have pulmonary P. aeruginosa.
Thanks to its antiviral HIV franchise, Gilead is rocketing along, but that indication carries the risk of patent-blackmail from third-world countries. If its investment in the respiratory class pays off, Gilead could find itself in the upper half of the biopharma rankings.
For the full profile, including pipeline and patent information, download the PDF.
